Previously, in our meaning of mawla article, we have provided the Sunni interpretations of the correct definition of the term. In this brief article, we will be taking a look at Al-Amini’s responses to the two Sunni interpretations.

Al-Amini’s Response to Mawla Meaning Ally/Friend

Al-Amini 1/644 responds to this Sunni interpretation by arguing the following:

Letting it know that loving him (Ali) is an obligation upon believers is not useful (since it was known), nor is it an unknown matter that was not spoken of, for him to be ordered to (by Allah) at that hour, and in which the deficiency of not speaking of it would cause the message to be incomplete, as we can find in the holy text. For this to cause the population to be gathered and held, the erection of a great forum, at a tough and desolate spot, in order to complete the religion, fulfill the grace, satisfy the Lord, and it is as if he came with something new and legislated what was not legislated, which the Muslims were not aware of. Then, he was congratulated by those that said, “You are my mawla and the mawla of all male and female believers,” and started a new matter that was not known until then. How can this be? They recited day and night, “The male believers and female believers are allies of one another,” (Al-Tawba 71) and “The believers are brethren.” (Al-Hujuraat 10).

Our Response

Al-Amini’s arguments are very common arguments made by Shias today. All Muslims agree with the basic statement that occurred at Al-Ghadir, however, Sunnis reject some details that Shias add. Sunnis do not accept that the Prophet (peace be upon him) was ordered to convey the appointment of Ali through a verse, nor that the religion was fulfilled by that, nor that Ali was congratulated by the Companions.

Sunnis also make it very clear that the Prophet (peace be upon him) did not drag people to a desolate area in order to give this speech. Refer to our article on the location of Al-Ghadir.

The only question remaining is: Why did the Prophet (peace be upon him) order the Muslims to love Ali when verses in the Qur’an clearly tell the believers to love one another?

The answer: It was because Ali was hated by some companions, which is why the Prophet (peace be upon him) had to remind them that he is to be loved. Refer to our article on the Context of Al-Ghadir. It is not surprising, nor strange, that the Prophet (peace be upon him) would bring the people together and give a speech in order to protect his beloved cousin.

Al-Amini’s Response to Mawla Meaning Slave-Owner

Al-Amini 1/669 says in response to this view that:

The narrator of this report is like the narrator of the previous report who wanted to limit the matter to make it seem like a personal issue. To us, it does not matter whether it is authentic or not after we have proven that Hadith Al-Ghadir is mutawatir.

He 1/641 also states that:

The Appointed One (salutations be onto him) did not own those that were owned by the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his progeny), so it is impossible that the intended meaning is: owner.

Our Response

Al-Amini treats this narration like a singular report, when he himself is very aware that this narration is reported by three companions. Yes, the Hadith Al-Ghadir is mutawatir, however, that does not cause one to reject the context  of the narration that is provided through authentic chains. The context gives the observer the intended meaning, and without a context, a sound conclusion cannot be arrived to.

It is important to also be aware that Al-Amini is not aware the tribal practices of the early Muslims. Refer to the second Sunni interpretation in this article. If he knew that the slaves of the Prophet (peace be upon him) were also the slaves of Ali, he would not have shrugged off this conclusion in the way that he did.

Conclusion

Al-Amini completely ignores the authentic context in order to force his interpretation onto Hadith Al-Ghadir, while only making use of weak variations that have been exposed previously on this website.